The Kingdom of Rin
by Landlady of the Universe
Summary: What happened during those six months when Rin and Jaken were left alone? A 'Promises' tiein fic.


Hello all!  There's not really much for me to say here, this is a Promises tie-in fic, but it's not necessary to have read Promises to understand it.  All you need to know is that Sesshy and Kagome have gone off to gather shards and left Jaken and Rin at Sesshy's castle. Let the fun begin. *evil grin*

Oh yea, and thanks to Jason for giving me the idea for this fic, and to Emcron for some of the game (read: torture) ideas.

Disclaimer: Landlady's list of things to do: 1) Take over Universe and charge rent to inhabitants {check} 2) Bribe Takahashi-sama into giving me Inu-Yasha

The Kingdom of Rin

Or

How Jaken Learned to Play

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named … Rin!  She was beautiful … wait, Rin said that already.  Ok, she was double beautiful, and nice, and liked to play, and everybody loved her…"

A certain toad demon winced as the girl-child rattled on.  Not for the first time, he asked himself why Sesshoumaru-sama had left him behind when he had gone off with that abominable woman.  Those two were off having adventures, and he was stuck at the castle…

"And she wore such beautiful clothes too!"

… playing babysitter for the brat.

Jaken turned to see what the brat was doing and nearly passed out from shock.  Somehow, the girl had gotten into Sesshoumaru-sama's clothes, and was now wearing one of his decorative kimonos.  Needless to say, it was way to big for the girl, and it dragged as she walked, threatening to fray the edges.

"For Kami's sake!" he shrieked, "Where did you get that?"

The little girl looked down at herself for a moment and then looked back up, her wide eyes disappearing in a huge grin.  "Doesn't Rin-hime look pretty?"  She twirled, or at least tried to.  Instead, she ended up a giggling heap on the floor.

Jaken was beside himself.  If Sesshoumaru-sama ever found out about this … he didn't want to think about what would happen if his lord did.  However, he didn't have much time to worry about that as he heard what Rin had to say next.  "Rin-hime needs a lady."

The green creature paled.  "What?" Jaken squeaked.

"A lady," the self-styled princess proclaimed impatiently.  "Laaaadyyyy.  L-A … umm, X, no, umm … Lady!" Satisfied with her spelling, she continued, "You know, to follow Rin around and wait and stuff."

"Wait?  You mean a lady in waiting?"

"Yea!  That's it!"  The girl grinned at him, sneezed, and then wiped her nose on the sleeve of Sesshoumaru's kimono.  The toad winced.  He was going to make absolutely sure that his lord never – **never **– found out about this, or he would be dog food for sure.

Still, he found some comfort in one thing.  "There aren't any ladies here to wait on you."  Granted, that wasn't entirely true.  There were servant women who could have played with her, but Sesshoumaru-sama was very specific in his instructions to keep Rin away from bad influences.  However, the words didn't have quite the effect on the girl that Jaken had hoped.

"That's ok," she said, "You can be Rin's lady in … whatever."  Oblivious to the horrified look on the demon's face, she smiled again.

"What?!" Jaken screeched again.  At this rate, he was going to become a permanent soprano.  "There is no way in hell that I am dressing up as a woman!"

Rin tsked, "Rin will tell Sesshoumaru-sama that Jaken was being mean to her."

Jaken thought that over.  If she told Sesshoumaru, the demon lord would no doubt find out about the rest of her escapades, most importantly, the fact that he was allowing her to wear Sesshoumaru's clothes.  Or more specifically, the fact that he hadn't been attentive enough to stop her from getting into his clothes in the first place.

But … dress up like a girl?  Absolutely not.  Rin, however, had different plans.  She held up one of her pink kimonos with another grin.  "Jaken will look so pretty in this!" she squealed.

"For the last time, brat, I am not wearing that!"

This time, Rin pouted, tears forming in her eyes.  Then she sighed, pretending to fold the kimono as she turned away.  "Oh poor Jaken," she cried.  "Rin will miss poor Jaken."

The toad demon eyed the girl suspiciously.  Finally, he took the bait and asked, "Why will you miss me?"

Dramatically, the girl wiped her eyes and heaved a great sigh.  "Because, Rin will have to tell Sesshoumaru-sama that Jaken was beating on her, and being all mean just because she asked him to play.  And Sesshoumaru-sama," she choked back a sob, "Sesshoumaru-sama will pound Jaken into small little pieces and feed Jaken to An-Un."  Then she broke down completely, sobbing into the kimono she held.

The demon muttered darkly under his breath.  This was all that bitch Kagome's fault!  Ever since she had arrived, Rin had become more devious by the day.   And the worst part was that he knew that Rin would carry out her threat of telling on him if she didn't get her way.  So, the demon gathered his nonexistent courage and gritted out, "Fine.  I'll be your lady-in-waiting."

Instantly, as though a switch had been flipped, Rin's tears stopped and she spun around to face him.  "Really?!  Yea!"  Bouncing over to the toad, she handed him the pink kimono.  "Rin will go outside so that Jaken can change.  Jaken hurry up, ok?"  With that she bounded out of the room.

Jaken looked down at the kimono and whimpered.

***

"Oooh, Jaken looks so pretty!" Rin cooed, attempting to pour them some tea.  More of the liquid ended up on the floor than in the cups, but Jaken didn't seem to notice.  He was petrified, frozen beyond all comprehension, at least until he caught the tail end of what the girl was saying.

"… Rin wants dessert!"

"Rin!  No!" Jaken yelled instantly.  He couldn't let the servants see him like this.

But it was too late.  A young woman who was in charge of Rin's room entered quietly.  Her eyes flicked to Jaken for an instant and he could see a smile that she fought to hide quivering on her lips.  Patently, she listened to Rin's order – which was basically a request for every ounce of sugar in the fortress.

Just before she left the room, she commented to no one in particular, "That color really suits Jaken-sama."

When the said toad demon finished spluttering, he turned to find Rin staring at him intently.  "W-What?" he asked nervously.  He did **not** like that look.

Rin put a finger to her lips, "Hmm…"  Then suddenly she gave him one of her blinding smiles, "Rin knows what would make Jaken **really** pretty!"  She sprung up and ran off, coming back a few seconds later with a black wooden box that she set on the table.  Jaken eyed the thing, which looked so innocent as it sat there.

Yea right.

***

It was a nice quiet day in the household of the western lord.

Until Jaken ran screaming down the hall, that is.

He was dressed in a pink kimono, and covered in makeup, looking like a geisha reject.  Rin was following behind waving a staff of heads that was coated in pink paint, but she was having a hard time keeping up.  Finally, she stopped, sitting down with a pout to catch her breath.

The servant who attended to her emerged from the nearest room upon hearing the commotion.  Catching sight of Rin, she headed over to the girl and asked, "What's going on Rin-chan?"

The small girl clutched the staff of heads happily and replied, "I taught Jaken how to play!"

So, what did you think?


End file.
